Renaming VMWare Files In Virtual Center

When you rename a Virtual Machine in VMWare’s Virtual Center the display name changes, but the files in the datastore do not. The .vmx, .vmdk, .nvram, etc… files retain the original name you gave them when the Virtual Machine was created. This presents a problem if you ever need to back track and figure out what the files are for.

Renaming all filenames/references manually is a daunting & error prone task; which starts with opening the .vmx file and renaming everything. An easier way to achieve the same outcome is to shutdown the VM and migrate it to a different datastore. All of the files and folders will be renamed to the name you specify in the wizard.

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on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 1:55 pm and is filed under VMware.
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One Response to “Renaming VMWare Files In Virtual Center”

Hi, there is an even easier way if you have Storage vMotion configured. You do not have to shut down the VM, so there is no downtime!!

In vCenter, rightclick the VM an choose Rename. Now only the displayed name is renamed. Next you do a Storage vMotion to another datastore and voilla, once the running VM is vMotioned to the other datastore, the names of all the files have been renamed to the new VM name.